How to Avoid Carry On Luggage Fees (Even If You’re Overweight)

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Had one agent weight me and my companion's luggage together - one of us was slightly over weight, but the other was significantly below allowance, so agent said "it evens out". I thought that was fair and beautiful

I flew recently with United Airlines and their fees are ridiculous (first time flying with them, first time encountering pricey baggage fees). Idk if this is a hack, but what I found worked for me. Two days before I was on their website looking at the costs for extra bags and overweight fees. They have different requirements for different ticket levels. So if you're traveling economy, you're allowed 2 checked bags with a fee at 50lbs (not sure if per or total). If you're traveling Premium Economy, 2 checked bags, no fee, 50lbs. If you're traveling business or first class, no fees for both bags, 70lbs. So when I got to the check-in, I was on an economy ticket, I had my two regular bags and a case that had my equipment. In total I was gonna be charged $440+. I asked the agent what the charge was to upgrade to business class, $229. All my bags and case were now under the limit AND checked through to my final destination. I was on 3 connecting flights with an overnight layover in Atlanta.

As a budget airline ticket agent, I just wanna say that we don't care if you come wearing your whole entire wardrobe as long as you still fit in your seat. And if the line is not long, we will also dont mind you pulling items out of your bags while it sits on the scale.

1 I have my carry-on luggage. 2 A personal item. 3 A pillow with a zipper and I put heavy things inside of it. 4 A bag with a red cross on it called medical which is exempt. 5 A duty-free bag which they don't inspect. 6 a fanny pack. And number 7 a multi-pocketed rest.

I’m an aircraft/aviation expert with over 30 years experience, you are correct, unless there is an extreme amount of extra weight by nearly everyone on the plane it doesn’t really make any difference.

Wear your jeans, sweat shirt, hoodie or coat on the airplane. It can get chilly up there at 37k ft. And you’ll save a good amount of space in your bag.

"stupid rules, call for stupid workarounds" <-- Couldn't agree more mate!

I traveled for four months with only a 40 Liter carry on backpack which did fit all my stuff and photography gear. It was always above the weight limit by probably 2x, but as I always checked in online, I could go through security without waiting at the check in desk. This saved so much time and money and nobody ever said anything about my 15 kg bag in the airplane.

I don't fly much but I was stupid enough to go to the counter even after checking in with their free kiosk. They tagged my 3lbs over the combined weight so I got charged $100. I saw so many people with much larger two bags of carry-on's walk in without checking in at the service counter. I was so mad!

My tip is to try to travel light. I once went on a travel on a budget ticket that only allowed one backpack and one small laptop bag. I stuffed everything I thought I’d have needed in the backpack, yet it turned out that after one week of traveling I didn’t even use half of my packed clothes! (There were washer and dryer where I stayed). I would have saved that space for other stuff I liked to purchase at the local. You may think you need this or need that in case something happened and you end up packing more than needed, but most of the time the “case” rarely happens.

I just want to THANK YOU for that tip about putting clothes inside your travel neck pillow! Pure genius! I can only take 22 pounds for a combined weight for my backpack and rolling bag for a 2 week trip to Japan. Very tough to do, but that 1 tips saved me a precious half a pound! Loved the pocket vest idea too but I am not ballsy enough to try it. LOL

Just take 3 or 4 outfits. Most place have washers and dryers, this eliminates a lot of this. Also roll all your clothes' to save space.

Alaska airlines will not let you carry anything extra. They tell you to consolidate all your Fanny packs, shopping bags.. everything! You are only allowed a carry on and one personal item. I did manage to keep my cross body bag on by wearing it under my jacket. They kept repeating the instructions over and over.. “consolidate all your items into your carry on and your one item.” I even had to put my water bottle into my backpack. This was June 2 of 2024. I’ve never had this problem with United or Delta.. they let a shopping bag or a neck pillow slip through.

I once had a really heavy backpack and it helped to carry it on one shoulder. It looked super comfy so I was the only one not being asked. On another flight they checked the bag but didn‘t complain when they saw the cameras inside. They didn‘t want to take the risk of damaging or losing one of the cameras.

Interesting video. I’ve travelled the globe for many years through my employment and also for personal trips. I learned way before they brought in the post 9/11 security measures that the best way to travel was with minimal luggage. I do like the idea of using lightweight bags though. It’s always cheaper to buy any additional clothes or shoes on your travels. Often you can purchase things duty free at airports. Other tips I’d pass on is to fly direct without any stopovers and take the first flights of the day in the morning.

On a trip to Panama, I once packed some fragile goods in my checked bag and used some unwanted cheap sweaters I had bought from a Chinese online retailer for padding. These were terrible sweaters. Felt like terry cloths. Anyway, on my return home, all my clothes picked up moisture from the humid climate in Panama so it put my bag overweight. They wanted to charge overweight fee of course. Since it was just a few pounds, I went to a corner, opened the bag, threw away all those cheap sweaters, zipped up and bag went through. There's always a few tricks! There is also re-distribution of goods like you mentioned depending how many bags you have with you!

Great advice, thanks!

Love the code red...i pretty much have done the things you've suggested each time i travel the only other thing i can think of would be to minimise weight is to consider the size of items when you purchase them. Powerbanks as an example. Why buy 20k amh when 10 will do me just fine, half the size and weight. I also travel with two phones. They are multi use as opposed to travel with an additional tablet and/or laptop. Size and weight matters with carry on so we all have to get creative at times.

Thx Mitch - good ideas... 👍